Del Bay Blog Tour with Paula Chase Hyman
Written by RAWSISTAZ · September 17, 2009 · 471 views
When author, Paula Chase Hyman, wrote a manuscript in 2003 about a bright-eyed optimistic fourteen year old, suburban girl who happened to be African American, the landscape of young adult fiction featuring contemporary Black characters was barren.
In 2004, Hyperion released Dana Davidson’s Jason & Kyra and from there the slow trickle of books featuring characters of color without race being the primary focus began. And in 2006, So Not The Drama, Chase Hyman’s debut was acquired by Kensington Books to launch their YA line.  She went on to write four more books that followed Mina Mooney and her group of friends and The Del Rio Bay series officially joined the small fray of books depicting a more heterogeneous teen point-of-view.
Since then, Chase Hyman has been on a journey to inject books like hers into the literary mainstream, so they’re mentioned in the same discussion as books by Sarah Dessen, Cicely Von Ziegesar and Meg Cabot.
Paula also co-founded The Brown Bookshelf with five author friends. The site is dedicated to honoring vanguard authors and showcasing the myriad of talented African American children’s lit authors and illustrators flying under-the-radar of librarians, parents and teachers.
Visit her at www.paulachasehyman.com and www.thebrownbookshelf.com.
ONE-ON-ONE (Throwback)Â INTERVIEW
(Excerpted from our interview conducted March 2007 by Stacey Seay)
RAW:  Tell us all about you, the author.  And then tell us about the person behind the author.
I’m a type A, shoe-a-holic whose habits of multi-tasking have spun so out of control I can only relax 100% if I’m away from email access. Oops, that’s the person behind the author. Paula the author is a true pantser (as in, I fly by the seat of them when I write). Even when I attempt to outline my stories, they tend to wander off where they want to once I begin writing.
RAW:Â Â How long have you been writing and what has the experience been like for you?
I’ve always been a writer. My parents have boxes of stories I wrote as a kid. And I have a box, somewhere, of stories I used to write with my best friend, Nicki. It was like a create-your-own adventure deal. I’d start the story and then she’d add on, then I’d add on etc… I don’t think the story ever came to a true end. I really need to find those things. They could make a good book.
Having my first book published has been an eye-opening experience. There’s so much you learn about the publishing industry that you sort of wish you didn’t have to know, because it infringes a little on the creative side. I always joke that I’ve gone from green to jaded in 12 months. But it’s kind of true because so much of what I know now has forced me to always look at my writing as a business, with a critical eye. I have an agent who handles the serious lifting. Still, I’m much more aware that I have to constantly juggle two very essential components – the business side and the creative arts side.
RAW: What was the inspiration behind the book(s) and what inspired you to write young adult fiction?
In ’03 when I wrote So Not the Drama, my daughter was eight years old. She had gotten to a point where she loved buying books and getting books at the library, but she wasn’t finishing them. An avid reader, myself, this habit bothered me. But then I began looking around at the books out there for young readers and it surprised me that YA fiction was still very much vanilla, twenty years later. It wasn’t that books with black characters were lacking, but that 1) they were still either historical fiction or problem novels and 2) YA books, overall, weren’t diverse. You had books with white casts. And books with black casts. Where were the books with multi-culti casts? My daughter is growing up very much like I did, with a diverse base of friends. There weren’t any books that showed that side of suburbia. So I set out to create a book that would.
RAW: I really enjoyed how you incorporated characters with diverse family lives and backgrounds into the story (Book 1). Was this something you did purposefully? How did you create your characters?
The idea for such a large cast came, once more, from my own reality as a teen and my daughter’s. Some kids roll in huge cliques. It was six of us, back in the day. And my daughter has no less than four close girl friends and a few close guy friends.  I’ve heard some minor grumbling that it’s “too†many people in So Not The Drama. But I think a large circle of friends is realistic. Even if you have one best friend, you have more than just that one friend. So my Del Rio Bay clique rolls deep. And when you have a large cast, it’s important that they’re different somehow. Otherwise the characters begin disappearing into one another.
The friends share a common bond and many similarities, but it would have been unrealistic if they’d all been cut from the same exact cloth. So yes, I did consciously set out to make the characters diverse. For example, Mina, JZ and Michael all live in the same exact neighborhood. But it’s pretty obvious that JZ’s parents are wealthier. Also, JZ and Mina come from traditional nuclear homes, where Michael is being raised by a grandmother. So even in the same nabe, there are distinct differences that help flesh out each character.
I’d say that my characters are a hodge podge of my own character traits, my teen clique, my daughter’s quirks. All rolled into a big old potpourri of wacky, teen angst.
RAW:  How challenging is it to make your characters and plot relevant and interesting for today’s young readers? What do you do to stay “hip” <<grin>>?
What’s funny is, being hip is so here today, gone tomorrow. Yet, I can’t lie, I love that people think I’m hip and trendy. Truth is, writing for teens is just where my heart is. I’ve worked with teens and children since I was in college. And writing for teens is another way of mentoring for me. I don’t intend for my books to have a lesson in them. It’s fun, light-hearted fiction. But if someone thinks twice about their own actions because of a misstep of one of my characters, that’s cool as hell.
Teens fascinate me. The way everything is so dramatic and is life or death, it’s really something to behold. Instead of feeling frustrated that they just don’t “get over it,†I envy that they’re in a place where their drama is relatively harmless. They’ll figure out soon enough that a break up is nothing compared to holding a marriage together. Or all the other adult balls life throws at you.
So my plots come from knowing that everything is a massive crisis when you’re a teen. And I take that notion and run with it. When you think like that, it’s not hard to create a plot point. Maybe an adult would read it and think, how is an entire book based on a fight with your friend? But a teen knows that one simple argument can send seismic waves through a friendship and take days or weeks to right.
RAW: As we close out the interview, share some words of advice or inspiration that have been shared with you that you always hold onto?
Now, I have no idea who uttered these words originally, but my father was the first one to say to me, the only constant in life is change. I keep those words top of mind, because change is around us, all the time. And change is the one thing that seems to frighten almost all people equally. Because for every welcome change in our lives there’s one or ten changes we’d prefer to reject. For some reason, realizing that change is the only constant gave me a sense of control over the uncontrollable. You may not be able to control some of it, but if you’re accepting of the fact that change is around the bend, you find ways to cope.
THE COMPLETE SERIES
The Del Rio Bay series books are: So Not The Drama, Don’t Get It Twisted, That’s What’s Up!, Who You Wit’? and Flipping The Script.
DEL BAY BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE:
September 15: Shades of Romance
September 16: Devyn Burton
September 17: RAWSISTAZ
September 18: Linda Gerber
September 21: Melissa Walker & Readergirlz
September 22: Mitali’s Fire Escape
September 23: YA Fresh
September 24: Color Online
September 25: APOOO Book Club
RAWSISTAZ Literary Group was founded in 2000 to support and promote the work of African-American authors. The groups, on and offline, represent close to 600 readers, writers, aspiring writers, and others interested in literacy and the impact on our communities.
Welcome Paula! Thanks so much for joining us today. I’ve been a fan of yours, especially with The Brown Bookshelf for quite a while.
But, time flies! I remember receiving your first book in ARC format and getting excited over the whole YA series. I can’t believe it’s done, but I hope to see some spin-off books or series come from it. Is any of that in the works? Also, I really loved the design of the first two covers. Why did the whole look change and have you seen a difference in how the book is received since the follow-up books came out?
-Tee
Paula,
Good interview. I’m so looking forward to introducing my daughter to your books. I’m also excited to know that this generation have books like yours to read. My younger years we didn’t have books that featured characters that looked like me.
Thanks for what you do, I appreciate it.
Fantastic! Thanks Tee and Paula.
Paula is also our first writere featured in our Women Writers of Color Series.
Looking forward to following the tour.
Thanks for sharing, sis! I’ll check it out.
-Tee
Hello everyone! Just a quick announcement that Paula can’t access the site, so she may not be available to stop by until tomorrow. So sorry for the inconvenience, but it appears the web gremlins are at it again.
-Tee
I’m here! I’m here! Tech issues plague me no more!!!
Tee, LaShaunda and Susan you ladies have supported me and my series repeatedly and I can’t thank you enough for that. The key to a book’s success is all about awareness and access and you have exposed your site’s visitors to my books time and time again. Now the access, well that’s out of all of our hands. But I appreciate the love!!
@Tee: Right now, the DRB series is “behind me.” I say it that way because, first books are like first children – you’ll only have one first. So it’ll always be something I promote and talk about. But creatively, I’ve moved on. I’ve started a stand alone novel that deals with the fragile relationship of a mom and her bi-racial teen. I’m in the crush stage with the book and am really in love with it, right now. All I want to do is write and write but reality dictates otherwise. Still, I’m so excited about it.
As for more series from me. Count on it! I wanted to do a stand alone because I need to challenge myself. Also, in order to make the dough, I think it’s in my best interest to show that I can do things besides series work. But I already have a second series sketched out, totally unrelated to the DRB series. I plan to tackle it once this latest novel is finished and (hopefully) sold!
re: my covers…short version, Kensington felt the photo covers would appeal more to Af-Am teen readers. Though I too loved my graphic covers and wanted them that way to appeal across racial lines, the business person in me felt like if photo covers is what it took to sell the books then it had to be done.
So glad you made it, Paula and thanks for your kind words. I love seeing that you’re in “crush†mode with your current book. That is so cute as a lot of times I hear authors “hating†while they’re writing, which seems like it would take the fun out of it, but what do I know? LOL. I can’t wait to hear more about it, so please keep us posted.
The covers…I understand, though I really like the graphic ones more, for the same reasons you listed. I have mixed emotions when I go into the children section of bookstores & libraries and here lately, it’s really been bothering me the lack of books featuring POC or characters who are more than just a quick stereotype mention in a book. But, today is not the day for me to get on a rant, so I’ll stop here.
Tell us more about The Brown Bookshelf and your co-founders.
-Tee
Ahh the Brown Bookshelf, my other baby.
A few years ago, Varian Johnson and I were admiring the success of ReaderGirlz, a site dedicated to books that more or less showcase strong female characters. We thought a site like that showcasing African American characters was necessary. So we gathered up a few writer friends and launched The BBS.
The site serves multiple purposes: one is to highlight books by brown authors who are flying under the radar of librarians and any person who considers themselves a gatekeeper to a child’s reading choices. And let’s be honest, that’s most books by authors of color. The second purpose is to promote the books by Brown Bookshelf members, that’s myself, Varian, Kelly Starling Lyons, Don Tate and Carla Sarratt.
For two years we’ve worked hard to find authors deserving of the spotlight and we highlight them during Black History month. Each author and illustrator gets a day usually it’s an interview or a book review. While we need the spotlight on little known authors we also use the month to pay homage to veteran children’s authors of color because without them there would be no newbies.
It’s fulfilling work and a true labor of love. We take time away from our own writing and promo to launch 28 Days Later (the February initiative) but it’s worth it. It’s our way of paying it forward and paying back, all at the same time.
Paula,
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. I will admit that I haven’t had a chance to read your works, however I plan to change that and soon. From the interview and the discussion I’m truly intrigued and love reading series!
As I continue to swim through the literary world, I keep asking myself the same question-If it’s difficult for me as an adult to find works that I like how is it for young person or child? Author’s like you and a few others are making it a easier. It’s nice to know that there a few out there concerned with issues such as diversity. Let’s face it we live in a diverse world daily.
I plan to check out the Brown Bookshelf in a bit, as I’m also intrigued about what you said about the site. I do have a question, is there a bookclub for young readers associated with it?
Thanks again,
Jaime
Hi Jaime,
Color Online is supporter of Paula. We have her books in our physical library, our Prize Bucket and we have featured her works in many of our posts. If you are interested in finding works for young girls and teens visit us and the two teens I mentor. They are teens of color bloggers.
To find books you’re looking for, I highly recommend you invest time in reading book blogs. Most don’t promo POC but that’s changing and by reading book blogs you will find blogs like Color Online, Reading In Color, The Happy Nappy Bookseller. and Taste Life Twice. We all promote works for children and YA and we all are committed to POC writers.
Jaime,
Other sites that are multicultural though not necessarily AA:
G.R.I.T.S Kids
Shen’s Books
Lee & Low Books
Worducopia Blog
a wrung sponge Blog
Crazy Quilts.
If you want more info and links come by Color Online or write me: cora_litgroup@yahoo.com
Great interview and keep writing !!
Hi Jamie. Unfortunately, no book club is associated with The Brown Bookshelf. Our aim is primarily to make sure people are aware of just how much good fiction is out there by authors of color writing for children.
It’s out there, most people just don’t know it and in many cases (sadly) the books simply aren’t distributed as widely as they should be. But at least The BBS gives you a place to start and know what to ask for. So we’re dedicated to being a resource that provides that information and networks with others interested in spreading the word.
Thanks, Paula!!
Paula,
I liked the DRB series. I was able to get a couple of my younger cousins interested in reading by using this series. So kudos to you and your ability to write a series for the youth that is interesting, entertaining and filled with messages on teen life. I can’t wait to tell them that you will be doing a new series. Any more clues as to what it will be about? Inquiring minds want to know. LOL.
Brenda
Thank you Paula for sharing yourself and your website with us. I know some teachers who are always tooking for YA books for their class to take to get them into the habit of reading. I will definately pass it on.
Web gremlins keep out! LOL
Paula, best wishes on your upcoming books and kudos to you for providing reading material to an audience that is under-represented.
@Brenda: I love hearing that. I never thought about my book being able to turn a reluctant reader on, because So Not The Drama is so long. And usually long books turn reluctant readers away. But I love knowing that they’re able to see beyond page count.
Thanks everyone for stopping in, spreading the word and passing along the joy of reading!